Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The blog is slow because I've been in the United States for the past few weeks giving talks and doing research (thank you Leverhulme Trust). From Boston to Connecticut to the city of New York. You can't see it in this picture but I noticed the Xinhua News Agency has one of the giant movie boards in Times Square.

I've been talking with the New York City Bar Association who are worried that the New York State Bar Association is about to kill any moves towards liberalizing their legal profession. The NYCBA has lots of big law firms as members. The politics of the American bar are sui generis. It's both powerful and weak simultaneously. Terribly strange.

I'm staying on the Upper West Side which is great fun. Last time I was on the Lower West Side next to the High Line.* The UWS is more funky.

*(Memo to Boris: If you are going to recreate the High Line in London, just make sure you do it right.)

Monday, October 08, 2012

I've written about Axiom and Lawyers on Demand before. They are now part of the legal vernacular and although they are carving out new ventures in law, they appear part of our lives. Yet they are predicated on fundamentally different lines to conventional law firms.

Organizations like Lawyers on Demand suggest to those who want to work with them that they need to think carefully about what they want to do with their lives and where their work in law fits in. In others words, think about your life-work balance. Few rarely do and if they do, they soon forget.

This sort of thing needs sustained thought and analysis. Alex Aldridge wrote a piece recently for the Guardian on surviving law school. I suggested in that that students should engage in some mindfulness practice. Both Berkeley and Miami law schools teach courses on mindfulness and these are becoming more and more necessary. I would even suggest that all lawyers should read two books:

As the legal
profession experiences accelerating change, we all need some space to think
about our working lives. Life With Law is a place for lawyers to take a bit of
time to reflect on how to meet their changing personal development needs.

Clients and
lawyers alike are placing increasing importance on alternative legal services
models as a result of the growing commercialisation of the legal sector. Now
one of the first of the new legal service providers is mirroring another trend
that is beginning to shape the business world and giving lawyers access to
tools for personal development, self-help and ‘mindfulness’.

Lawyers
On Demand’s free Life With Law events are open to any lawyers who are curious
about ideas for better managing their own lives – and to help their teams to
manage theirs.

I can't be there as I will be giving a talk in Boston, but if I weren't I would be. The first event is on Wednesday, October 10 at 18.30. It's being held at Adelaide House, London Bridge, London EC4R 9HA.

Now if you can't make it, there is an alternative. They've worked for many centuries and shaman swear by them, though as lawyers there is doubt about their legality......

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

OK, this blog is random and that's the way I like it. I cycle and I love it. For years I had a BikeE semi-recumbent bike until some little cretin stole it. (He just didn't realise how easy it would be for the police to find--idiot!) I liked that bike.

So then I had to find a bike that wouldn't be stolen, too easily. Not that I thought the BikeE would. Into the frame came the logical bicycle--the Brompton. (That's my colour too--cornflower blue...woohoo..)

This is the best for getting around London! And when you've arrived, you just fold it up.

I haven't done this yet but I intend to--the "Brompton Race" for which you have to wear a suit...but you can wear short trousers.

Anyhow the point of this post is the wonderful cardboard bicycle that Izhar Gafni has designed in the video at the top. It's such a brilliant idea and would cost between $9 to $12! That's my next. Screw fixies.....